April sees 805 household electricity disconnections in Ireland

Bord Gáis Energy and Electric Ireland see the most domestic energy disconnections in April 2014 due to non-payment of bills

by David Baker

on 13th June, 2014

Electric Ireland undertook the highest number of electricity disconnections in April while Bord Gáis Energy had the most gas disconnections, according to new data.

The Commission for Energy Regulation’s (CER) Domestic Disconnections for Non-Payment of Account for April 2014 report showcased levels of disconnection occurring across Ireland in the domestic gas and electricity market.

There were also 731 gas disconnections in the same month, of which Bord Gáis Energy accounted for 598 while SSE Airtricity had the next highest level of disconnections with 77. Electric Ireland undertook 41 gas disconnections while Flogas Natural Gas had 15 – all occurred in instances of non-payment of account.

However, a significant number of the sites where disconnections took place are believed to be vacant. ESBN and Bord Gáis Networks are in the initial stages of developing a process whereby network technicians will deem them to be vacant or not when the disconnection takes place.

The methodology is due for review by the CER, although it is not clear when such a review will take place. Domestic disconnection rates are measured in terms of the number of disconnections per 10,000 customers, which considers the relevant market share of each supplier.

For electricity disconnections, Bord Gáis Energy performed a disconnection at a rate of 7.20 per 10,000 customers – up from 2.03 in March. Electric Ireland saw their rate fall to 3.61 in April – from 5.03 the previous month – while Electric Ireland saw its rate drop from 5.70 in March to 3.60 a month later. Bord Gáis Energy also had the highest rate of gas disconnections per 10,000 customers in the CER report, with an increase in rate from 9.46 in March to 16.92 in April.

Disconnections at Electric Ireland also rose but from 2.46 to 3.03, while SSE Airtricity and Flogas Natural Gas both saw declines in disconnections, to rates of 7.04 and 4.56 respectively. For Flogas it represents a marked improvement after the firm had a similar level of disconnections to Bord Gáis Energy in March.